YOUNG STRIKER TAKING AN A LEVEL

- Town celebrates World Maths Day with Kit Elliott- Town U19 striker taking a Maths A Level- Kit Elliott working hard with football and education

Today is World Maths Day, a day that gained particular interest for Young Terrier Kit Elliott.

First Year Apprentice Kit is following a unique and personalised education programme at the Academy with the aim of successfully sitting A Level exams in both Maths and Further Maths in the Summer of 2020.

Kit has an A* GCSE profile and indicated from the outset that he was committed to pursuing the A Level pathway within his apprenticeship programme: “I’ve always been interested in maths, so I thought it would be something that would benefit me if I continued to do it.

“I like to do it alongside football because it’s something different and it gives me something to take my mind off football so that my life isn’t just purely football.”

All the other apprentices at the Academy are working towards achieving a Level 3 BTEC qualification in Sport as part of their continued formal education. However, as a gifted and talented scholar, Kit was given special permission by the Premier League to pursue the A Level route.

When the other apprentices at the Academy are taking part in the BTEC college sessions on Mondays and Friday mornings, Kit works with a specialist A Level Maths tutor, Rizvan Ali. Over the course of the last five months, Kit has made excellent progress in his studies and has covered most of the first year’s curriculum content.

Kit admits he hasn’t struggled with juggling his football and his studies: “It hasn’t been too challenging. I’ve been able to maintain my focus on football and then go back home and in my free time I can do the maths.

“Most of all it’s been enjoyable. Some of the questions can be challenging at times but I’ve just got to persevere with it. It’s like in football - I like to face challenges and get through them.”

Kit’s tutor, Rizvan Ali, believes that Kit’s chosen pathway could inspire younger Academy players: “He’s a really good example to other students in terms of his work ethic. He tends to just get on with it and he wants to get on with it.

“Obviously he has his own reasons for wanting to do the A-Level – he wants more options open to him in case things don’t go the way that he expects. He wants the option to explore other fields. I think he’s setting a good example in terms of choosing to do an A-Level over a BTEC.”

Kit will hopefully sit his AS Level Maths exam in the summer of this year, which should be a good benchmark and will provide a clear assessment of the standards he has achieved so far.

“Kit has had to suffer a little disruption to his studies, as his previous tutor had to withdraw with a broken ankle, but he has recovered from this and made excellent progress over the last few months and is on track to secure good grades. He works in a different location to the rest of the scholars, which can’t be easy, but he has adapted to this admirably and works with good concentration and to an impressive standard,” Academy Head of Education Mike Mawson commented.